Naperville settles police lawsuit for $435,000

Naperville has reached a $435,000 settlement with a Lemont woman claiming police mistreated her while arresting her son on drug charges. (Melissa Jenco, Chicago Tribune)

Naperville has reached a $435,000 settlement with a Lemont woman who claimed police mistreated her while arresting her son, according to city officials.

"With the unpredictability of Cook County juries, … their high jury verdict awards, we thought this was the best business decision." Naperville Assistant Legal Director Jill Pelka-Wilger said.

The lawsuit, filed by Olga Alexsoff in Cook County in 2011, stems from an incident the year before in which police came to her home to arrest her son for drug offenses.

Pelka-Wilger said police identified themselves and asked Alexsoff to step back. When she refused, they handcuffed her and she suffered a torn rotator cuff as she struggled. Police later released her without charges.

In her lawsuit, Alexsoff claimed officers handcuffed her for several hours resulting in injuries, inappropriately touched her and mocked her accent.

While there initially were 17 defendants in the case, all but the city had been dismissed at the time of the settlement.

The $435,000 is less than half of what Alexsoff requested, according to Pelka-Wilger and will be split three ways – About $13,000 goes to Medicare for treatment Alexsoff already incurred, $189,000 will go toward future medical treatment that may be needed and about $232,000 will go to Alexsoff and her attorneys.

Alexsoff's attorneys declined comment Wednesday and she could not be reached.

The city is not admitting liability for any of her claims.

"It has been the city's contention since the inception of the lawsuit the police forces acted reasonably under the circumstances and it was Ms. Alexsoff that accelerated the incident and police officers acted appropriately," Pelka-Wilger said.

The settlement money will come out of the police department budget from funds available due to vacancies on the staff, according to Police Chief Bob Marshall, who echoed Pelka-Wilger's comments that the settlement is a "good business decision."

Marshall, who was not working for the department at the time of the incident, said officers "could have done some things differently," but declined to elaborate.

The City Council already has signed off on the settlement. Councilman Bob Fieseler said he has been concerned about "overuse of force by police occasionally."

"There is a pattern of bystanders including family members of suspects being injured or otherwise violated (in) their rights who end up bringing more claims against us than the suspects themselves," he said. "And if we could remain focused on the suspects and do everything in our power to avoid carrying over the same level of aggressiveness to the bystanders I think we'd save the city a lot of money."

However, he also said he believes Marshall has made improvements in the department since taking the helm in May 2012.

Councilman Dave Wentz said police need to focus more on what's happening within the city's own borders and also must receive adequate training.

"The question of knowing the current constitutionally correct methods of apprehending, stopping and questioning suspects during an investigation are very critical, and taking one misstep along the way can lead to very expensive mistakes," he said.

Marshall said one of his objectives since becoming chief has been to increase training hours, which he described as "far below the training received by our benchmark cities."

He plans to start a professional development section in the department that will oversee training in skills like the use of electroshock devices and firearms as well as professional development like search and seizure rules. He hopes to name a commander for the section by mid-October.